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Tag Archives: stress

I don’t think there’s a person on earth…in their right mind, who looks forward to a trip to the dentist. Next week, I’m due again for that stress. Just making the appointment sent my mind back to the time that prompted me to write the post “A Joyful Noise.” This was when I learned that music is a gift from God.

As I mentioned in the post, for about three pain-free hours I had a wonderful time singing my favorite tunes, along with the artists, just as if I had been there when they were recording. This resulted in the temporary relief of pain from an excruciating toothache.

I hesitated to write about that experience because I thought this only happened to me, and people would think I was crazy or lying about this music/pain phenomenon. Well, how surprised I was to learn that I wasn’t unique. Hearing music we like causes our amazing brain to release the pain-relieving and “feel-good” chemicals–endorphins, serotonin, and dopamine. Wow!

When looking back at the titles of all those songs I belted out, I began to see how they could actually be put into a paragraph to convey a message. Because I’m hoping that we will all be blessed with long, healthy, happy lives, this is just what I want to say to you:

At this time in our lives, I believe we gotta have high hopes. Let’s vow that come rain, or come shine, we’re going to stop saying, “Don’t get around much anymore.” What are you doing the rest of your life? Chances are, we are all too sentimental about the way we were. But now it’s time to get serious and take good care of ourselves, because for all we know, the best is yet to come. Therefore, I invite you to come fly with me on this journey through life, and smile, because starting here, starting now, we’ve got a lot of livin’ to do.

How many titles did you recognize? Let us know if they brought back memories. Even if you didn’t know any of them, the message is sincere.

I hope you will be inspired by the remarkable benefits of music when you read “A Joyful Noise” and watch the videos “The Wonders of Music.” The information could be life changing for you or someone you know.

Let us know your thoughts. You’re the reason for this blog (see the “About You” page). So please, leave a message in the Comments section below and arrow down to click the Post Comment button. What you say may be just the thing to make someone’s day. Thanks.

Image–Bigstock.com

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Recently, I read a story by a man who grew up in a family where all the kids had to put in their time taking piano lessons on their pride and joy…a big beautiful baby grand piano. His story brought back memories.

At a very young age, I too had to take piano lessons…against my will! In my immature mind I thought it was child abuse, but nobody had given it a name at that time.

Somehow my mother got the idea that I should become a famous piano player. I don’t know if this revelation came to her before or after she found the piano. No, we didn’t have a big beautiful baby grand piano, but my mother did admire our neighbor’s big beautiful baby grand piano. Ms. Denny could really play that thing. Her fingers would glide across those keys like magic.

We would never have been able to afford a piano. We were probably listed as poor, but we didn’t feel poor until we didn’t have enough money to buy something that wasn’t a necessity. Because of fishing poles, vegetable gardens, fruit trees, and somebody’s chickens, we never went hungry. Even though we got a new outfit only a few times a year, we had plenty of clothes because my mother could have written a book on shopping at thrift stores. Lots of things in our home had been new in someone else’s home. How lucky we were to live across the street from Bosco’s junk yard. The whole neighborhood had a good time roaming around that place and admiring the treasures we found. My mother was always on the lookout for a great bargain…or a freebie.

One day she came home from work all excited about a piano she found. It was sitting at the curb in front of a house in the rich part of town. My father called a few of his friends and off they went in his pickup truck to retrieve that piano before a junk man could get it.

Her prize “find” was a player piano, along with a box of useless piano rolls. It took up much too much space in our tiny living room. Mom did scrounge up enough money to have it tuned and several keys were fixed. It would serve the purpose–piano lessons for me. Stress!

Saturday mornings, there I was, sitting at Ms. Denny’s big beautiful baby grand piano. I loved that piano but hated the lessons. I was not one bit interested in lessons and after a few weeks, Ms. Denny told my mother that I wasn’t paying attention and that all I wanted to do was show off and flick my braids. I told myself that Ms. Denny was just jealous because she didn’t have long braids to flick. My mother told me that if I didn’t “straighten up and fly right” she would beat my butt for wasting her hard-earned money. Since my mother didn’t make idle threats, I soon learned to play the piano. Stress!

She was so excited about her budding pee-anist, she told everybody. Whenever our church, or anybody’s church, had any kind of special Sunday afternoon celebration, she made sure I was part of the entertainment on the program. I would get almost physically sick to my stomach just thinking about having to play. I was terrified of making mistakes and hitting the wrong notes. Stress!

This went on for probably about a year and I hated it. One very hot summer day, a little old church out in the sticks, was celebrating something and had booked too many people on the program. There was no air conditioning in churches back then and I was the last one on the program. When my name was called, I trembled in fear as usual as I walked down the aisle and sat on that rickety old piano stool, at that dusty old dilapidated piano and started playing my two-page piece of music. Stress!

It was no surprise to anyone that the poor old piano had been neglected for a long time. It looked like it should be sitting at the curb waiting for the junk man. Not only was it out of tune but some of the keys would stick and some didn’t play at all. I thought about giving up and returning to my seat, but for some reason I relaxed, sat up straight, and let my fingers glide across those keys like Ms. Denny as I pretended I was playing at Carnegie Hall. It didn’t matter that I played the wrong notes because nobody knew if it was me or the broken down piano at fault. The congregation clapped with delight when I finished because now they could say the benediction and go home. My mother was probably mortified, but she never said a word about that performance, and she never ever booked another gig. Hallelujah!

***

Several decades later I happily took piano lessons again and love playing now. It just may ward off Alzheimer’s disease plus, it’s a wonderful way to relax and relieve stress. One day I may be able to afford a big beautiful baby grand piano.

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Stress! Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words can be hazardous to our health.

I’m sure you have been in situations where someone said spiteful things to or about you, and at that time, you couldn’t think of how to retaliate. Their words had a way of creeping back into your thoughts no matter how hard you tried to get rid of them. While fixing dinner, driving, working out, you just couldn’t stop thinking about pay back.

I almost caused a car accident one day when my mind was not on driving while mentally replaying the condescending and disrespectful words from a nurse in the doctor’s office. Because brain fog was my companion in the office that day, I couldn’t think of a smart comeback.

Throughout the week, those stress producing words gnawed away at my peace of mind, flooding my body with poison. I was not in a forgiving mood or willing to turn the other cheek. Many times I would be wide awake between midnight and dawn rehearsing put-downs.

Stress, caused by unkind words, can make you sick–physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Malicious words erode your self-esteem, self-image, self-worth and cut to your core leaving wounds that never heal. Stress damages the heart as well as the soul.

Words uttered that are deemed offensive, can even put your livelihood at risk (as being reported in the media lately). The internal frustration from cruel words has even caused eating disorders in the lives of those thrown off track by that destructive “F” word…FAT. Weight gain is often a by-product of callous words when someone finds comfort in food. It’s been reported that stress can worsen pain, elevate blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol. Add to that list of problems sabotaging your health: impaired memory, GI disorders, insomnia, hair loss, to name a few.

We now seem to live in a culture that applauds mean, nasty, hateful words. We’re entertained by ugly words. If you sprinkle in vulgarity, you get a standing ovation. The young, as well as those who should be setting a good example, take great pride in spewing venom. It’s not just what we say but also how we say it.

Those brave souls who choose to say anything sincere, uplifting or heartfelt, are booed…or fired. Niceness, respect, empathy are not in style. Bullying is on the rise inflicting lifelong pain. All too often, there’s another report about how, once again, heartless words precipitated a tragic suicide. Words really can kill!

Of course, not all stress is bad. Many everyday encounters can be the source of stress. The important thing is how we handle it.

Vengeance and stress were replaced by “peace that passes all understanding” when I decided to send the nurse a copy of the quote below to “speak” for me. The outcome was not in my hands.

“Be careful of your thoughts because they become your words.

Be careful of your words because they become your actions.

Be careful of you actions because they become your character.

Be careful of your character because it becomes your destiny.”

*Anonymous

I added a note to refresh her memory.

To my surprise, a few days later I received a note from the nurse…and one from the doctor. (I had not involved him.) She apologized for offending me and said she will be mindful of how she speaks to their patients in the future. The doctor assured me that this is not the kind of experience he wants his patients to have and he thanked me for bringing the incident to their attention. They both apologized again in person at my next visit.

THOUGHTFUL WORDS TO LIVE BY:

“Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”– Proverbs 12:18.

*Quote found in the blog “The Redo You Project” reblogged from “Midnight Thoughts” in a post entitled “Words, Once Spoken.”